Overconfident Ucla Caught In Tulsa Hurricane, Gets Blown Away

OKLAHOMA CITY — Blink. Tulsa just scored a basket. And another while you read those words.

The Golden Hurricane? This Tulsa team is faster than any hurricane, faster even than that speeding bullet Superman races.

At least it was Friday afternoon when the Hurricane swept away fifth-seeded UCLA 112-102 in their Midwest Regional opener.

That, in case you've forgotten, is formerly top-ranked UCLA, once the only undefeated team in the nation. That, to be perfectly clear, is tradition-bound UCLA, once considered good enough to contend for this year's national title.

These Bruins were so unimpressed by their Friday test that, earlier this week, they admitted they didn't even know where Tulsa was.

"Geographically, they still may not know," Tulsa guard Alvin Williamson said after the rout. "But I think they know now we have a pretty good basketball team."

The Bruins wore T-shirts emblazoned with the words, "Refuse To Lose."

Instead, they refused to play, especially in the first half.

Ed O'Bannon (30 points, 18 rebounds) was the only Bruin who showed up for those 20 minutes, and he was hardly enough to halt the devastation the 12th-seeded Hurricane wrought. Tulsa was up 10-0 after just 2:08 and 46-17 with 6:19 left in the half.

The Bruins looked as if they were wearing 6-inch stiletto heels instead of sneakers. The Hurricane was howling and offering up heroes enough for a new line of comics.

"You could see it in their eyes," Collier said of UCLA. "It was like the reaction, `These guys can play.' "

"In the first half," said O'Bannon, "I was very embarrassed."

At halftime, the Bruins were down by 25.

They finally awoke and trailed by only 12 with 11:53 remaining. UCLA forward Marquis Burns was at the line then for a one-and-one, but he missed the front end and set off a chain of events that guaranteed his team's demise.

As Collier hit a three, Burns ran over the pick of center J.R. Rollo. That foul gave the ball back to Tulsa, and Collier immediately hit another three.

"The biggest play of the game," UCLA coach Jim Harrick called it.

"It was the play that stopped their momentum," agreed Tulsa coach Tubby Smith.

His team just ran this one out from there, and then Harrick was up on a podium trying to explain the Bruins' sorry performance.

"It's called March Madness, and it's crazy," he said.

"That's why all of us are here. It's crazy sometimes. You can't explain it."